The next day, the weather looked even worse. When I woke up in the morning, it was gray and drizzling.
Ye Yaodong couldn't help but frowning as he looked at the sea. The wind was not as strong as the previous two days, but the waves were still there.
His 1,000 hooks are still on the sea, and he doesn't know if the buoys will be washed away by the waves. It's so annoying. The ground trap nets are also on the sea, and he hasn't collected them for three days. If he doesn't go today, the fish and shrimps in the cages will go bad.
"Ah Qing, I'll go out on the boat to collect the goods from the traps."
"There are waves and it's raining. You just recovered from your cold..."
"It's okay with a little rain, and the waves aren't as big as they were the past two days. I didn't go out to sea, I just collected the traps along the coast, it's okay."
Lin Xiuqing glanced outside the house and frowned, "Then be careful and put on your raincoat."
"Um."
Ye Yaodong picked up the raincoat hanging behind the door, put it on, and walked out with the bucket. Seeing that he was going out even in the rain, Ye Yaohua and Ye Yaopeng hurriedly asked him where he was going.
"I'll be back after collecting a trap."
After saying this, he walked out without stopping.
There are large and small boats floating outside the dock. Due to the bad weather in recent days, no boats are out, and even the purchasing points are closed.
It was the same today, it was so deserted that there was not even a single person around, which was a huge contrast to the hustle and bustle of the past when people were coming and going.
Ye Yaodong walked towards the shore of the dock with the bucket in his hand, but looking from afar, he always felt that something was wrong with the reef covered by sea water outside the dock.
Why does it feel like the reef has turned colorful
It looks yellow and purple? It seems to be moving
He walked forward quickly in the rain with a lot of questions in his head, but his eyes widened in shock, "What the hell... starfish??? So many?"
What you see on the underwater reef wall are densely packed tentacles moving around, and they are actually starfish!
It was low tide, but the tide was not going to the bottom. Although the reefs on the shore were submerged by the sea water, he could still see clearly that the underwater reefs were covered with starfish. His mouth opened wide and he kept saying "F*ck"...
Walking a little closer, although the sea water was a little turbid, he could still vaguely see that there were large groups of yellow and purple starfish lying on the beach below. After all, its color was quite bright.
"Fuck, when will I pick this up?"
He was happy but also a little worried because he had nothing to put these things in...
Today he just wanted to collect some traps, so he carried two buckets without even pushing out the cart. He had no place to put the fish he picked up. His boat was not small, so it could not dock here. The water level was too shallow at low tide.
Normally they would take the public boat out at high tide, then get on their own boat, and then moor their boat to the shore to load cargo or other things.
The water level near the shore is too shallow at low tide. There are two high tides and two low tides every day, and the times of high tide and low tide are different every day. It is easy to run aground if you are close to the shore, and once you are stranded, you cannot get out.
In the past, ships would come to the shore to unload cargo during high tide. After unloading, they would also dock a little further outside, and then individuals would be taken to shore by public boats.
The small wooden boat was not afraid of the shallow water level and was docked on the shore, but his small wooden boat had been sold long ago, which was a big worry!
He glanced around, and suddenly his eyes lit up. He saw Ah Zheng and the small wooden boat!
"Good boy, it's you! Lend it to me first to help me out!"
Other people’s boats are difficult to move. If they are seen, some will make a fuss. But theirs will definitely be fine!
He swung two buckets and walked excitedly towards their boat.
Just start picking up from the rocks near where their ship is docked.
From a close distance he could clearly see that some of these starfish had five corners like a five-pointed star, but some had four and some had six.
There are four rows of dense tube feet under its horns, which can be used to capture prey and to cling to rocks.
The big starfish on the underwater reefs had a diameter of more than 20 centimeters, which looked amazing. Their undersides were covered with densely packed tube feet. The small ones were about 5-6 centimeters, and he didn't see any smaller ones.
Each of these starfish was moving its tentacles to eat. They wrapped the small water spinach on the reef, pried open a very thin hole with their tentacles, and then destroyed the meat inside.
Although these starfish look beautiful and cute, they are very gluttonous. They will eat any creature that swims in the water and is smaller than themselves, including oysters, abalone, sea cucumbers, fish eggs, crabs and scallops.
Sometimes when they get ruthless, they don’t even spare their own kind…
It is like a locust on the ground, extremely destructive. Wherever it goes on the seabed, there are only a few shellfish left.
It also has a strong reproductive ability. A female starfish can lay 20 million eggs at a time!
Ye Yaodong picked one up, put it in his hand and rubbed it with his thumb. Its tentacles were still moving.
"Damn, it's so big that all the goods on the reefs at the dock will be eaten up, and all the sand clams under the beach will be eaten up."
He threw the starfish into the bucket and continued to pick them up. There was such a large area, so he picked up the big ones first. No one knew when they climbed up. Because of the wind and waves, no one came out to the dock in the past few days, so no one noticed them.
I guess they were washed by the waves, so they appeared in large numbers on the shore to look for food.
He bent over and soon filled a bucket with pickles. He twisted his waist and continued.
When his two buckets were full, he had only picked up a small area. The surrounding areas were crowded with starfish. Even if he was asked to pick up all the starfish in a day and a night, he probably wouldn't be able to pick up all of them!
Damn, never mind. Just pick up as much as I can and fill up the boat before anyone notices.
He poured all the starfish from the two buckets into the boat, and then went back to fill them up again. He didn't care at all that water got into his trouser legs and shoes.
He went back and forth, emptying the bucket when it was full. He didn't know how many times he had done this. The boat was already half full and his waist was almost failing.
I don't know when the rain stopped, and the sky seemed brighter.
Ye Yaodong looked at his watch and was surprised to find that it was already past 12 o'clock. He had been out for more than four hours. No wonder he was hungry.
"Huh? What is this?"
Ye Yaodong heard the voice and looked up, "Mom? Why did you come out?"
"It's me. Didn't Qing say you went out to sea to pull traps? Why are you here? What are these densely packed things? Are they starfish?"
He said with certainty, "It's a starfish. I was originally going to go out to sea to pull traps, but when I arrived at the dock, I saw starfish everywhere, so I picked them up here."
My waist is almost broken.
I feel like all the pork kidneys I consumed some time ago were wasted. I didn’t use them at the critical moment, and now I’m wasting my time today.
Upon hearing this, Ye's mother's eyes immediately lit up as she looked at the large number of starfish here, "Why didn't you tell us when you got home? There are so many here, how long will it take you to pick them all by yourself?"
"I was thinking, since I've seen it, I might as well pick it up before anyone notices it. I haven't asked you yet? Why did you suddenly run out?"
"After dinner, I saw that the rain had stopped, so I went to check on you. Who knew that Ah Qing said you were out collecting traps, and you haven't returned yet. I was worried that you might have gotten into trouble due to the high waves, so I asked me to come out and check. You didn't even bother to tell me when you returned."
Mother Ye slapped her thigh as she spoke, and said excitedly: "Hey, you, I have to go back and call your father, sister, your elder brother and second brother, and call them all out to pick up the trash. This is all money!"
As soon as she finished speaking, she ran back happily.
"Wait, mom, bring me a few more sacks, and bring Xiao Xiao and A Zheng along..."
Nor can their ships be requisitioned for nothing.
"I know, I know… "
Ye's mother's voice came from afar, and Ye Yaodong felt relieved and found a higher reef to sit down. His waist was about to break, so he needed to rest for a while.
Looking at the surrounding reefs, they were still tightly covered with starfish, and only the area around him was empty.
Damn, I worked so hard for a whole morning, but I only picked up a small part of the area. It's really flooded.
Ye's mother left quickly, and the people she called came quickly too.
Father Ye and Ye Huimei were the first to push the cart over, followed closely by eldest brother Ye and his wife, and second brother Ye and his wife.
They were stunned to see starfish all over the rocks covered by sea water on the shore.
“They really are all starfish!”
"so many… "
"Hurry, let's go down and pick up..."
"Dong has picked up so many?"
"You picked up all the things on this boat? Why didn't you go back and tell us?"
Ye Yaodong rolled his eyes. Why should he waste time going back to tell him
Shouldn't you pick up things yourself when you come across them
If his mother hadn't come out, he would have continued picking up things until dark or when the boat was full and then went back!
"Why are you still talking nonsense? Pick it up quickly." After Ye's father said this, Ye's second wife immediately fell silent.
Each of them shook a sack, found a spot, and started picking up money excitedly.
The excitement prompted them to start talking again.
“Why are there so many starfish?”
"Yeah, how come there are so many starfish suddenly appearing on the shore? Each one is quite beautiful. Usually I can only pick up one or two on the beach occasionally, but today there are so many and so big!"
“Is it because of the high seas these days?”
"They are all over the sea. Look, they are everywhere in the sea and on the beach."
…
After a while, Ye's mother also came with A Zheng and Xiao Shanshan.
The two were called out by Ye's mother without knowing why. They thought Dongzi had something important to tell them, so his mother hurriedly asked them to come out with the sacks.
They were all wondering why they were carrying sacks to the dock. It was not the first day of the month, nor the fifteenth day, and there were still waves on the sea.
They were surprised at first sight, and immediately reacted and followed Ye's mother to rush forward.
He is indeed a good brother. Not only does he think about his family when something good happens, he actually thinks about them as well!
So touched!
"Fuck, you already loaded up a boat?"
"This ship looks familiar?"
"Fuck, this is our boat, are you stupid?" Xiaoxiao glared. No wonder they went out of their way to call them.